VisualDOC – Multi-Disciplinary & Multi-Objective Optimization

VisualDOC is a general purpose multi-disciplinary design, optimization, and process integration software, developed by Vanderplaats R&D in the USA.
In general it is a software to setup and conduct DoEs and optimizations, using other CAE software like structural analysis software or CFD software.

Using the GUI it is possible to setup the workflow using simple icons that get connected with arrows:

VisualDOC GUI using Matlab and Excel integration

A simple example to show how VisualDOC and optimization works using a CFD software:

Below is the geometry of a simple mixing elbow. Cold fluid enters at the large inlet at the left. Warmer fluid enters at the small inlet. The objective is to mix the two fluids:

As a first step the geometry has to get parametrized:

Here the parameters R, β and θ are used to define the geometry. VisualDOC will modify these values, send the to the geometry generation software, then takes it to send that to the CFD software. From the CFD simulation VisualDOC extracts defined monitored quantities, like here a uniformity value for the temperature at the outlet of the mixing elbow.

After a series of designs VisualDOC will terminate the optimization based on user defined criteria. The results of this example can be seen below:

Design Cycle 9: R=40.00, β=0.00, θ=69.00

After a DoE or an optimization has finished the user can thoroughly analyse all results to further understand and potentially improve the system:

When designing complex systems, using software like VisualDOC including these kind of statistical post-processing abilities are the key to design the best products and stay ahead of the competition.